1. |
- Kim, Joon Tae, et al.
(author)
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Dual antiplatelet Use for extended period taRgeted to AcuTe ischemic stroke with presumed atherosclerotic OrigiN (DURATION) trial : Rationale and design
- 2023
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In: International Journal of Stroke. - : SAGE Publications. - 1747-4930 .- 1747-4949. ; 18:8, s. 1015-1020
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rationale: The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with clopidogrel-aspirin for the large artery atherosclerotic (LAA) stroke subtype has been debated. Aims: To determine whether the 1-year risk of recurrent vascular events could be reduced by a longer duration of DAPT in patients with the LAA stroke subtype. Methods and study design: A total of 4806 participants will be recruited to detect a statistically significant relative risk reduction of 22% with 80% power and a two-sided alpha error of 0.05, including a 10% loss to follow-up. This is a registry-based, multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded end point study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a 12-month duration of DAPT compared with a 3-month duration of DAPT in the LAA stroke subtype. Patients will be randomized (1:1) to either DAPT for 12 months or DAPT for 3 months, followed by monotherapy (either aspirin or clopidogrel) for the remaining 9 months. Study outcomes: The primary efficacy outcome of the study is a composite of stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic), myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality for 1 year after the index stroke. The secondary efficacy outcomes are (1) stroke, (2) ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, (3) hemorrhagic stroke, and (4) all-cause mortality. The primary safety outcome is major bleeding. Discussion: This study will help stroke physicians determine the appropriate duration of dual therapy with clopidogrel-aspirin for patients with the LAA stroke subtype. Trial registration: URL: https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris. CRIS Registration Number: KCT0004407.
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2. |
- Kanoni, Stavroula, et al.
(author)
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Implicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis.
- 2022
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In: Genome biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-760X .- 1465-6906 .- 1474-7596. ; 23:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genetic variants within nearly 1000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understanding of these findings and hindering downstream translational efforts such as drug target discovery.To expand our understanding of the underlying biological pathways and mechanisms controlling blood lipid levels, we leverage a large multi-ancestry meta-analysis (N=1,654,960) of blood lipids to prioritize putative causal genes for 2286 lipid associations using six gene prediction approaches. Using phenome-wide association (PheWAS) scans, we identify relationships of genetically predicted lipid levels to other diseases and conditions. We confirm known pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular phenotypes and determine novel associations, notably with cholelithiasis risk. We perform sex-stratified GWAS meta-analysis of lipid levels and show that 3-5% of autosomal lipid-associated loci demonstrate sex-biased effects. Finally, we report 21 novel lipid loci identified on the X chromosome. Many of the sex-biased autosomal and X chromosome lipid loci show pleiotropic associations with sex hormones, emphasizing the role of hormone regulation in lipid metabolism.Taken together, our findings provide insights into the biological mechanisms through which associated variants lead to altered lipid levels and potentially cardiovascular disease risk.
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3. |
- Wen, Wanqing, et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide association studies in East Asians identify new loci for waist-hip ratio and waist circumference
- 2016
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sixty genetic loci associated with abdominal obesity, measured by waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR), have been previously identified, primarily from studies conducted in Europeanancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations of abdominal obesity with approximately 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 53,052 (for WC) and 48,312 (for WHR) individuals of Asian descent, and replicated 33 selected SNPs among 3,762 to 17,110 additional individuals. We identified four novel loci near the EFEMP1, ADAMTSL3, CNPY2, and GNAS genes that were associated with WC after adjustment for body mass index (BMI); two loci near the NID2 and HLA-DRB5 genes associated with WHR after adjustment for BMI, and three loci near the CEP120, TSC22D2, and SLC22A2 genes associated with WC without adjustment for BMI. Functional enrichment analyses revealed enrichment of corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling, GNRH signaling, and/or CDK5 signaling pathways for those newly-identified loci. Our study provides additional insight on genetic contribution to abdominal obesity.
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4. |
- Astero, Poria, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Electrical Market Management Considering Power System Constraints in Smart Distribution Grids
- 2016
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In: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 9:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rising demand, climate change, growing fuel costs, outdated power system infrastructures, and new power generation technologies have made renewable distribution generators very attractive in recent years. Because of the increasing penetration level of renewable energy sources in addition to the growth of new electrical demand sectors, such as electrical vehicles, the power system may face serious problems and challenges in the near future. A revolutionary new power grid system, called smart grid, has been developed as a solution to these problems. The smart grid, equipped with modern communication and computation infrastructures, can coordinate different parts of the power system to enhance energy efficiency, reliability, and quality, while decreasing the energy cost. Since conventional distribution networks lack smart infrastructures, much research has been recently done in the distribution part of the smart grid, called smart distribution grid (SDG). This paper surveys contemporary literature in SDG from the perspective of the electricity market in addition to power system considerations. For this purpose, this paper reviews current demand side management methods, supply side management methods, and electrical vehicle charging and discharging techniques in SDG and also discusses their drawbacks. We also present future research directions to tackle new and existing challenges in the SDG.
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5. |
- Astero, Poria, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Multi-agent transactive energy management system considering high levels of renewable energy source and electric vehicles
- 2017
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In: IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution. - : The IET: The Institution of Engineering and Technology. - 1751-8687 .- 1751-8695. ; 11:15, s. 3713-3721
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The future smart grids (SGs) consist of considerable amount of renewable energy sources (RESs), electrical vehicles (EVs), and energy storage systems (ESSs). The uncertainties associated with EVs and uncontrollable nature of RESs have magnified voltage stability challenges and the importance of an effective energy management system (EMS) in SGs as a practical solution. This study presents a multi-agent transactive energy management system (TEMS) to control demand and supply in the presence of high levels of RESs and EVs, and maximises profit of each participant in addition to satisfying voltage regulation constraints. For this purpose, a real-time pricing is considered based on Cournot oligopoly competition model for demand and merit order effect for production to compensate RESs' fluctuations in real time by an indirect control method. Simulations are conducted in the modified IEEE 37-bus test system with 1141 customers, 670 EVs, two solar plants, four wind turbines, and one ESS. The results show that the proposed multi-agent TEMS can indirectly control EVs, elastic loads, and ESSs to balance the RESs oscillation, minimise customers cost, and regulate voltage in a real-time manner.
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6. |
- Astero, Poria, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Transactive Demand Side Management Programs in Smart Grids with High Penetration of EVs
- 2017
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In: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 10:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Due to environmental concerns, economic issues, and emerging new loads, such as electrical vehicles (EVs), the importance of demand side management (DSM) programs has increased in recent years. DSM programs using a dynamic real-time pricing (RTP) method can help to adaptively control the electricity consumption. However, the existing RTP methods, particularly when they consider the EVs and the power system constraints, have many limitations, such as computational complexity and the need for centralized control. Therefore, a new transactive DSM program is proposed in this paper using an imperfect competition model with high EV penetration levels. In particular, a heuristic two-stage iterative method, considering the influence of decisions made independently by customers to minimize their own costs, is developed to find the market equilibrium quickly in a distributed manner. Simulations in the IEEE 37-bus system with 1141 customers and 670 EVs are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can better manage the EVs and elastic appliances than the existing methods in terms of power constraints and cost. Also, the proposed method can solve the optimization problem quick enough to run in real-time.
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7. |
- Koo, Jun Mo, et al.
(author)
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Nonstop Monomer-to-Aramid Nanofiber Synthesis with Remarkable Reinforcement Ability
- 2019
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In: Macromolecules. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0024-9297 .- 1520-5835. ; 52:3, s. 923-934
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aramid nanofibers (ANFs), typically produced by exfoliating aramid microfibers (Kevlar) in alkaline media, exhibit excellent mechanical properties and have therefore attracted increased attention as nanoscale building blocks. However, the preparation of aramid microfibers involves laborious and hazardous processes, which limits the industrial-scale use of ANFs. This work describes a facile and direct monomer-to-ANF synthesis via an as-synthesized intermediate low-molecular-weight poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) without requiring the environmentally destructive acids and high-order shearing processes. Under the employed conditions, PPTA immediately dissociates and self-assembles into ANFs within a time period of 15 h, which is much shorter than the time of 180 h (not including the Kevlar preparation time) required for the Kevlar-to-ANF conversion. Interestingly, the fabricated ANFs exhibit nanoscale dimensions and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) reinforcing effects similar to those of Kevlar-derived ANFs; i.e., a 1.5-fold TPU toughness improvement and a maximum ultimate tensile strength of 84 MPa are achieved at an ANF content of only 0.04 wt %. Remarkable reinforcement ability investigated by comprehensive analytical data comes from ANFs, which disturb ordered hydrogen bonding in hard segments and induce strain hardening along the elongation pathway. Thus, the developed approach paves the way to industrial-scale production of ANFs and related nanocomposites.
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8. |
- Mahajan, Anubha, et al.
(author)
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Multi-ancestry genetic study of type 2 diabetes highlights the power of diverse populations for discovery and translation
- 2022
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Nature. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 54:5, s. 560-572
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We assembled an ancestrally diverse collection of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in 180,834 affected individuals and 1,159,055 controls (48.9% non-European descent) through the Diabetes Meta-Analysis of Trans-Ethnic association studies (DIAMANTE) Consortium. Multi-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis identified 237 loci attaining stringent genome-wide significance (P < 5 x 10(-9)), which were delineated to 338 distinct association signals. Fine-mapping of these signals was enhanced by the increased sample size and expanded population diversity of the multi-ancestry meta-analysis, which localized 54.4% of T2D associations to a single variant with >50% posterior probability. This improved fine-mapping enabled systematic assessment of candidate causal genes and molecular mechanisms through which T2D associations are mediated, laying the foundations for functional investigations. Multi-ancestry genetic risk scores enhanced transferability of T2D prediction across diverse populations. Our study provides a step toward more effective clinical translation of T2D GWAS to improve global health for all, irrespective of genetic background. Genome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in ancestrally diverse populations implicate candidate causal genes and mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes. Trans-ancestry genetic risk scores enhance transferability across populations.
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